Rail sanding pipe



July 2, 1957 YONGUE 2,797,946

RAIL SANDING PIPE Fil ed Feb. '16, 1954 I United States Patent RAILSANDlNG PIPE James M. Yongue, Jacksonville, Fla, assignor of one-thirdto James Armstrong Yongue and one-third to Robert Bruce Yongue,Jacksonville, Fla.

Application February 16, 1954, Serial No. 419,560

2 Claims. (Cl. 291-41) This invention relates to rail sanding pipes, orrailroad track sanders, and is specifically directed to an improved sandfeeding and delivery pipe adapted for use in sanding the rail to reduceslippage of locomotive driver wheels and for similar applications.

A general object of this invention is to provide an improved railsanding pipe, and, more particularly, a rail sanding pipe for use in ahigh pressure air sanding system which will cause a greater portion ofthe sand fed by the system to deposit upon and remain on the rail untilrun over by the wheel.

Many sand delivery systems have been evolved for use with locomotives,streetcars, and other wheeled vehicles, and it has been found that thosesystems in which sand is blown through a pipe by means of air suppliedat a high pressure, as, for example, 140 pounds per square inch, are themost reliable and generally most satisfactory. One serious drawbackexists in high pressure systems, however. The sand supplied in a streamof high velocity air to the rail is almost all blown away by the air andonly a very small portion actually passes under the wheel on the rail.

While various prior attempts have been made to solve the problemsconnected with the blowing of sand from the rail, such attempts have notprovided acceptable solutions, in that either the blowing away of thesand was not appreciably reduced or the air pressure was so reduced asto permit clogging within the system. The object of this invention,accordingly, is to provide a satisfactory arrangement for supplying sandto the rail which will operate in a manner to deposit a greaterproportion of the sand on the top or tread of the rail and to minimizethe blowing oil of the sand so deposited.

The novel features Which are believed to be characteristic of thisinvention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. Theinvention itself, however, both as to its organization and method ofoperation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, maybest be understood by reference to the following description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a rail sanding pipe in accord with thisinvention, shown in operating position in association with a track railand portions of a locomotive, the rail and locomotive being indicated infragment;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal section of a lower portion of thesanding pipe of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a further enlarged transverse section taken along line 33 ofFig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a partially broken away side elevation of a modifiedembodiment of the invention.

A sanding pipe 1 in accord with this invention is shown in Fig. 1 inoperation to deposit sand in a low velocity main stream 2 on the treadof track rail 3 in advance of wheel 4, which will be assumed to be inmotion toward the right of the drawing. The sanding pipe 1 is mounted ina conventional manner to a portion of the undercarn'age or truck of thelocomotive, such as to the brake hanger 5 which is provided to supportbrake shoe 6.

Sand and air are supplied to pipe 1 from a flexible tube 7 coupled, bymeans of pipe clamp 8, to the upper end of pipe 1. It will be understoodthat this invention contemplates the provision through a coupling tube,such as tube 7, of a mixture of air and sand from any standard sand boxand air supply system to the sanding pipe of this invention, and it willbe assumed that the mixture furnished through tube 7 is from a supplysystem utilizing air of up to about pounds pressure.

The sanding pipe in accord with this invention comprises preferably astraight length of metal pipe which, for locomotive systems, may beabout 30 inches long and 1 inch in internal diameter. The lower ordischarge end of the pipe, below a rain shield 9 of known constructionand arrangement, bells laterally outwardly in the rearward directiontoward the wheel 4 to form a hood portion 10. It will be noted that thelower or forward portion of the pipe 1, opposite the side in which thehood is formed, continues in a straight line to the lower discharge end11 of the pipe. In use, high velocity air carrying a small proportion ofsand issues in a generally horizontal direction from the hood 10, asindicated by arrow 12, Whereas a relatively low velocity air stream witha very much larger proportion of sand falls vertically or nearlyvertically downwardly from the heel or leading end of the opening at thedischarge end 11 of the pipe in a stream 2. The sand of stream 2 strikesthe rail at low velocity and remains on the rail tread in a pile 13 fromwhich very little sand falls off or is blown oil prior to being run overby the wheel 4.

The internal arrangement of pipe 1 is best understood with reference toFig. 2 which shows in sectional view approximately the lower two-thirdsof the pipe on enlarged scale. The pipe is divided by a longitudinalpartition member 14 throughout the lower 15 inches of its length,approximately, into a high velocity air and sand passage 15 and a lowvelocity air and sand passage 16. The high velocity air passage 15preferably is slightly greater in cross sectional area than the sandpassage 16, and the upper entrance to the sand passage is partiallyblocked by a restricting baffle or shoulder 17 having an openingadjacent the leading side 18 of the pipe wall, as opposed to thetrailing side 19. The terms leading side and trailing side as usedherein have reference to the direction of travel of the locomotive, andthe trailing side of the pipe is that side toward the wheel for whichthe pipe is used to sand the rail. While the passage 15 is hereinsometimes referred to as an air passage, some sand is mixed with thehigh velocity air passing therethrough, and air at relatively lowvelocity passes with the relatively large amount of sand through sandpassage 16.

At its upper end, partition 14 has a small portion 20 inclined slightlyupwardly toward the trailing side of the pipe, the portion 2-D formingwith baftie 17 and with the pipe wall a sand entrapping chamber open atits upper end to receive sand from the incoming mixture of sand and airand opening downwardly through the above mentioned aperture in bathe 17to supply sand, with a small amount of air, into the sand passage 16.

The lower end of pipe 1 is seen, in Fig. 2, to bell outwardly at thetrailing side of the pipe, toward the wheel with which the pipe is beingused, the wheel being omitted in this view. The hood portion 10 formedby the belling out of the lower end acts as an out of line passage forhigh velocity air, and the lower end portion 21 of partition member 14is inclined rearwardly into the hood in a manner to deflect the highvelocity air and the few grains of.

sand carried thereby into the hood and into a generally horizontalexhaust direction. The main stream of sand, meanwhile, falls at lowvelocity from the sand passage 16 through the heel of the bottom opening11 of the pipe, that is, from the lower end of the leading side 18 ofthe pipe wall, in the stream 2. V

Fig. 3 discloses, on enlarged scale, details of the arrangement ofbaflle 17 with respect to the pipetl and partition member 14, and itwill be seen that the baflle extends from the partition toward theleading side 18 of the pipe wall. Aperture 2.2 is provided in baffle 17to permit the sand accumulating against the upper face of bafile 17 topass on into the sand passage hereinabove described and identified at 16in Fig. 2.

It will be further seen from Fig. 3 that the partition 14 divides thepipe into a high velocity air passage 15 which is slightly larger incross sectional area than the sand passage provided between the lowersurface of partition 14 and the leading portion 18 of the pipe wall. Ina pipe of the exemplary dimensions of 30 inch overall length and 1 inchinternal diameter, the aperture 22 may have an area of approximately asemicircle of one-quarter inch radius, while the pipe Walls and thepartition may each be one-eighth inch in thickness.

The arrangement of the undercarriage of the locomotive, and otherconsiderations, may dictate the desirability of departing from the exactsize and shape of sanding pipe hereinabove described. If the sandingsystem is designed for 1 /4 or 4 inch internal diameter sanding pipes,it will be apparent that the internal diameter of the pipe of thisinvention may be made larger or smaller as desired. Furthermore, varioustypes of locomotives are provided with flexible coupling tubes, such astube 7 in Fig. 1, arranged in various respective positions in relationto the desired position for the lower end of the sanding pipe. If thesand and air tube from the supply system is closer to the wheel, and ifit extends vertically downward, for example, a pipe in accord with thisinvention may take the modified form shown in partially broken away viewin Fig. 4.

The pipe 23 of Fig. 4 is shown attached to a sand and air delivery tube24, and the upper, sand and air receiving end portion of the sandingpipe extends vertically downwardly from the supply tube to a bend 25.Below the bend, the pipe is inclined at about 30 degrees to thehorizontal, whereas the pipe 1 of Figs. 1 and 2 is shown at aninclination of 45 degrees. Partition member 26 divides the portion ofpipe 23 below bend 25 into a high velocity sand and air passageway 27,through which most of the air and some sand will pass in operation, anda low velocity air and sand passageway 28, partially blocked orrestricted at its upper end by apertured baffle 29 and through whichmost of the sand and some air will pass in operation. The partitionmember 26 extends longitudinally within the lower portion of the pipe 23through: out a distance preferably at least about fifteen times theinternal pipe diameter.

Hood 33 is formed as a laterally extending portion of the pipe wall atthe discharge end, and the lower end portion 31 of partition 26 extendsangularly into the hood, thereby to act as a deflector to direct thehigh velocity sand and air stream of passageway 27 into the passagewaydefined within the hood. The action of the modified pipe of Fig. 4 is,in other respects, like that of the preferred embodiment of Figs. l3.The bafiie member 29, for example, may be constructed as shown in Fig.3, and, if the pipe is about 30 inches in overall length and of 1 inchinternal diameter, the partition 26 should have a length of about 15inches. Bend 25 may be about inches from the discharge end 32 of thepipe in accord withFig. 4, and a rain shield 33 to prevent water fromrunning down pipe 23 and wetting the sand, is provided as described inconnection with Fig. 1.

The improved operation of the pipe of Fig. 1 and of the modified pipe ofFig. 4 apparently results from the accumulation of the relatively heavysand in the pocket or chamber formed above the baflle 17, or 29, andbounded by the upwardly inclined or angled upper end portion 20, or 34,of the partition member. The sand so collected drains through theaperture in the baffle, and the pressure of the downwardly flowing airin the pipe seems to be effective to cause the sand to continue flowingsmoothly through the aperture. The sand passing through the aperture ofthe baffle pours down passageway 16 and onto the track in a relativelyslowly moving stream, while the main air stream is directed from thehood at the discharge end in a generally horizontal direction toward thelocomotive wheel, and the air has been found to lose much of its forcebefore it can interfere with any of the sand deposited from the stream2. A very small amount of sand may fall from the main air stream 12 asthe stream loses velocity after leaving the hood, and some may strikethe wheel 4 a short distance above the track, but the amounts are notsufficient to add materially to the sand deposited on the rail from themain sand stream 2 issuing from the heel at the forward end of thedischarge end of the pipe.

The terms forward or leading, and trailing or rearward, as applied tothe sides of the pipe or ends of the discharge opening, have referenceto the direction of movement of the locomotive or other vehicle forwhich the pipe is provided. It will be understood that the pipe isintended for disposition in front of the wheel to deposit sand on thetrack which the wheel will run over.

When sand is required to start a locomotive, when the locomotive is notin motion, it has been found that suflicient sand is blown in the highvelocity air stream 12 normally to give traction until the wheel canmove the few inches necessary to reach the main pile of sand depositedin the stream 2. Only under the most severe conditions is it necessaryto back the locomotive to slack the car couplings for a jerk start.Under such severe conditions, the sanding pipe of this inventionprovides a desirably large pile of sand which the driving wheel meetsafter the first few inches of forward motion.

While only certain preferred embodiments of this invention have beenshown and described by way of illustration, many modifications willoccur to those skilled in the art and it is, therefore, desired that itbe understood that it is intended in the appended claims to cover allsuch modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of thisinvention.

What is claimed as new and what it is desired to secure by LettersPatent of the United States is:

1. A rail sanding pipe comprising an elongated pipe member having a sandand air mixture receiving end and a discharge end, a rearwardly belledhood-like lateral extension formed in the wall of said pipe member atsaid discharge end, an elongated longitudinal partition member in saidpipe member dividing said pipe into an elongated high velocity sand andair passageway and an elongated low velocity sand and air passageway,one end portion of said partition member being angularly inclined intosaid lateral extension and arranged to direct the sand and air of saidhigh velocity passageway into a generally horizontal rearward issuingstream, and a baflle member having a restricted opening therethrough,said baffle member extending from a portion of said partition memberremote from said discharge end in a direction transversely of said lowvelocity sand and air passageway and said restricted opening beingarranged to admit at low velocity sand entering said receiving end ofsaid pipe member into said elongated low velocity sand and airpassageway.

2. A rail sanding pipe comprising an elongated pipe member having areceiving end for a mixture of sand and high pressure air and adischarge end, a rearwardly belled hood-like lateral extension formed inthe wall of said pipe 5 member at said discharge end, an elongatedlongitudinal partition member in said pipe member dividing said pipeinto an elongated high velocity sand and air passageway and an elongatedcoextensive low velocity sand and air passageway, the lower end portionof said partition member being angularly inclined into said lateralextension, said high velocity sand and air passageway having a dischargeend in said lateral extension, said extension having a rearwardly andgenerally horizontally directed opening and said lower end portion ofsaid partition member being arranged to deflect the high velocity sandand air from said high velocity passageway through said opening and intoa rearwardly and generally horizontally directed high velocity stream,and an apertured baflie member disposed across said sand passageway in aposition spaced from the ends of said partition member, said bafilemember and the portion of said partition member extending therefrom inthe direction toward said receiving end forming with a portion of thewall of said pipe member a sand-entrapping chamber connecting with saidelongated low velocity sand and air passageway through said aperture.

White Aug. 3, 1909 Martin Mar. 20, 1934

